What They Say
The ZEISS TERRA ED Pocket 10×25 delivers breathtaking, enlarging images at 10x magnification and is easy to use with smooth, exact focusing in any situation. Thanks to its operating temperature range of -20 to +63°C and the waterproof casing, these binoculars are a reliable companion even in extreme conditions. With its folding design and the low weight of just 310 g, the TERRA ED Pocket is extremely compact and easy to transport. These binoculars are for anyone who wants to see every detail without dragging around extra weight.
What We Say
I love being out on the water – anywhere – home, abroad, freshwater, saltwater, it’s all about the outdoor experience for me with fishing being the vehicle that allows me that freedom to explore and enjoy my time in nature and the fresh air.
A large part of the enjoyment for me is getting to watch the local wildlife going about their daily business, including the fish I am trying to catch and other species that happen to be around also if they are making themselves visible near the surface. That might be a gently rising trout sipping insects off the surface of a chalk stream or a full-on tuna blitz out on the ocean as they lay waste to some hapless school of baitfish than wandered into the wrong neighbourhood. It is often for me a water vole secretly munching a grass stem down near the water’s edge or an osprey circling above a mullet shoal in an estuary somewhere, the opportunities are everywhere we go. But how many of us actually pack some binoculars in our gear to take advantage of those quiet moments in-between bites?
My problem has been my pair of old 10×50’s are huge and heavy and as much as I’d love to take them with me they just get in the way and are inconvenient. But I have a solution – the new breed of packable pocket-sized but high-quality binoculars are perfect for outdoor warriors like ourselves.
I recently had the chance to test out the TERRA ED 10×25 binoculars from that giant of the optics world, Zeiss, taking them on a recent trek north to the Scottish highlands for some birdwatching in particular alongside the fishing.
With a folding design and weighing only 310g, this makes them the perfect size to put in a coat pocket or your bag for use whenever you need them. They are designed to work in temperatures from as low as -20 up to +63 degrees Celsius and are also waterproof and have a hydrophobic coating on the lenses to encourage water to bead up and roll off keeping them clear. The eyecups also rotate out for normal eyesight or rotate in for use with glasses – I found them slightly more usable without my glasses as I could centre them much more quickly – the right eye has a diopter adjustment (-3/+3 via the front wheel) so you can set them to your specific needs for perfect focus balance across your eyesight.
In use the images were very bright, even in dull and other low-light conditions like the evening, testament to the quality of the Zeiss optics. There is an 8×25 pocket model in the TERRA ED range also which gives you a larger field of view albeit with lower magnification – more useful for event viewing in my mind, as well as a larger 8×32 non-folding/non-pocket model with a larger lens diameter for gathering even more light but at the expense of a greater size and weight (510g). I prefer the larger 10x magnification of the 10×25’s for getting as close up a view of wildlife as I can.
As you would expect, the focus wheel is located just nicely for your finger to fall on to it naturally with a smooth but firm operation for precise focusing. Having the diopter adjustment control on a wheel at the front rather than on the eyepiece itself, means it is out of the way so does not get knocked accidentally. The only decision to make really is whether you want to use them with or without your glasses if you have to wear them like I do. As I said above I found them slightly better with my glasses off as with my glasses on it was harder to centre them over my eyes quickly sometimes but that is something that improved with regular use over the couple of weeks testing time. The only other wish I had for them was with the unfolding for use, where it would be nice to have some sort of catch mechanism so you can set it at just the right ‘open’ distance for yourself and be able to return to it quickly each time. Overall though very minor quibbles in what were an excellent pair of very portable binoculars, with excellent viewing quality and performance.
There is an optional hard carrying case (£25) if you wish to protect the lenses in particular when travelling, otherwise they come with a soft bag which has a very useful integral microfibre cleaning cloth attached.
The Terra Pocket 10×25 binoculars are priced at RRP £304.99 and can be bought from the official ZEISS Online Store or through their Authorised Dealer Network.
